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This week, Verizon, the second-largest US telecoms group, said it will cut 13,000 workers from its fixed-line business during 2010. This announcement follows 17,000 job cuts in the wireless business in 2009.



The company's finances are flailing, losing USD653 million in the 4th quarter of 2009, compared with USD1.23 billion profit the previous year. These results were made worse by the fact that Verizon paid USD3 billion in charges for cutting 17,000 jobs. The company says that the changes will strengthen the company going forward, despite these huge financial costs and the incalculable non-financial costs of such large-scale lay-offs.



Verizon, 45% owned by the global giant Vodafone, continues to struggle to make its fixed-line business profitable and is relying on the 22% increase in revenue from its wireless business and the acquisition of Alltel to boost results.